Makati—(PHStocks)—The Philippine Stock Exchange Inc. (PSE) posted a net income of PhP701.54 million in 2016, 3 percent higher than the PhP682.81 million profit in 2015. The increase was driven by the growth of operating revenues by 4 percent to PhP1.26 billion from PhP1.21 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, operating expenses amounted to PhP592.6 million, 1.5 percent lower than the PhP601.91 million expenses in 2015.

Listing-related income, which made up 44.2 percent of operating revenues, rose by 15.6 percent, on the back of four Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and 39 additional/follow-on listings. Meantime, trading-related income dipped by 2.2 percent as total value turnover slipped by 10.3 percent in 2016 to PhP1.93 trillion. Service fees from the Securities Clearing Corporation of the Philippines also grew by 10 percent. Revenue from data feed, on the other hand, went up by 12.5 percent as both the number of market data subscribers and income from subscription increased.

“Our revenues were affected by the volatile markets as it kept our trading-related income muted. But the decline in this revenue segment was more than offset by the multiple offerings we had, which picked up in the second half of 2016. This year, we believe we would have a healthy IPO and secondary offerings pipeline which could support the growth of listing-related revenues,” said PSE President and CEO Hans B. Sicat. “With the approval of the Dollar Denominated Securities and PPP Listing Rules, we have effectively diversified our product lineup for various types of offerings to take place in our market. We are also hoping that trading activity will pick up in the coming months.”